Twenty Things - Death Note
by Arysthae
Summary: The minds of those most deeply entangled with the Kira investigation, were the brightest in the world. But as everyone knows, the brighter the flame, the darker the shadow cast. What they showed the rest of the world was not what they truly thought or believed. -This will eventually cover all of the main Death Note characters. Rated T for implications-
1. Chapter 1

**Twenty Things - Death Note**

**Light Yagami**

1) He's always hated sweets. All his life. Really. It's not just because L constantly ate sweets; though, that is what had contributed to the fact that Light can no longer look at sweets without feeling the urge to throw up.

2) Despite what other people may say, the person he loves most is not himself. It's actually his beloved sister. He couldn't imagine life without annoyingly cute Sayu who has him wrapped around her little finger. That brat. He'd do anything for her and she knows it.

3) She exploits it too. His most embarrassing moment was the large amount of running through Harajuku after he slapped the actor Hisagi Yumichika on Sayu's behalf, after the popular actor had insulted her. He'd never felt more humiliated, but the hugs and the screeching from Sayu later was completely worth it.

4) Light never actually wanted to be a detective. He prefers the cold experimentation of science and the interesting things therein. It's just, Light knew that the only way that he'd ever be able to get his father to pay attention to him, was if Light worked with him. It's why he revels in being Kira and joining the taskforce to catch himself, because his father's attention was constantly upon Light.

5) Even though the respect that he strives for is his father's, the person that Light respects the most in his family is his mother. Her entire life is centred around her family, and she never once seems resentful about the fact that her Oxford degree in English was going to waste. In fact, Light could count the amount of times he'd seen his mother unhappy about anything, on his hands. So, it was his mother's endless patience and love which fueled Light's fake smiles around his followers and friends. After all, if she could do it, so could he.

6) He thinks that school was perhaps the single most boring experience of his life. He wishes that he could have been homeschooled some days, then he realizes that L was probably homeschooled, and look where that had brought L. He was a reclusive detective that looked like a homeless panda with the social skills of a tree. Light feels a lot more grateful to his mother for sending him to school, after that.

7) He's not actually gay. Just because he has no interest in girls, it doesn't mean that he's gay. To be honest, Light doesn't think romantically about anything, at all. If he had to reproduce, he'd prefer it to be asexually. He's never voiced this aloud, of course. He gets enough teasing comments about his ego from Sayu; the last thing he needs is his sister crowing about how narcissistic Light is.

8) Contrary to popular belief, Light doesn't hate Misa. He doesn't particularly like her either, but he doesn't hate her. She's pretty pleasing on the eye and how someone who was constantly willing to please him in any way, be unsatisfactory? Okay, so he would like it if she didn't try to seduce him every five minutes, and he wishes that she wouldn't whine his name in such an obnoxious high-pitched voice. But he does appreciate the fact that she's there. She's good for grunt work.

9) Between Takada and Misa…. He'd rather not choose. He's got this principle, you see. Don't get trapped between choosing an unstoppable force or an immobile mountain. Run away, as far as you can.

10) He really_, really_ dislikes Matsuda. The man is incompetent, foolish and overly friendly. He's more like one of Light's high school friends than a police officer, but Light can't help but use him. He's the only sympathetic member on the task force towards Kira. He's also the person that it would be most logical for Light to be friendly with, after L's death. After all, he's supposedly got the same emotional maturity as Light does. Light personally thinks that he himself, possesses more maturity than Matsuda ever will.

11) He really appreciates Aizawa, though. He might not fully trust Light as much as Light would like, but Aizawa's a hard worker and honest too. It's hard to find people like that, even if they don't support his values. He kind of wishes that Aizawa had been his lackey instead of Mikami.

12) Mikami… Light is actually kind of annoyed by his existence. Perhaps, it's because he's reminded that he needs to rely on others, or perhaps it's because he can see a path that he might have taken, had he never found the Death Note, but Light doesn't like him. He does however appreciate the fact that Mikami is smart.

13) He thinks that his best friend might be Ryuk. It's kind of sad that his best friend is a shinigami, but best friends are supposed to be the ones that understand you most, right? Light knows that the shinigami is the only one that understands the soul-sucking boredom of the real world. Which is probably why there are always apples around Light, when he can help it, and Light always makes sure to leave videogame time or chatting time with the wayward shinigami, somewhere in his schedule.

14) …On the topic of Ryuk, Light always makes sure that his plans have a flair for the dramatic. Because, Light's also kind of afraid of the shinigami. Ryuk has a Death Note too, and while Light can't kill off Ryuk any time soon, Ryuk can kill Light at his pleasure. Light doesn't want to know what happens to his life when Ryuk gets bored. So he makes sure to keep things interesting, all the time. Never a dull moment around Yagami Light. It makes Light very tired, but it keeps Light alive, just that little bit longer.

15) Despite general opinion, it does not take Light an hour to do his hair. It takes half an hour, thank you very much! Being serious though, Light spends a lot of time on his appearance and it's not because of vanity, even if vanity is slightly involved too. Appearance and body language is important in the real world. To get anywhere with charming people to his side, he needs to be polite, well-dressed and approachable. Anyway, his genes had blessed him with beauty, and it would have been a crime for Light to not use that trait of his.

16) Light used to play the violin. He was around seven, he thinks, and he mastered it in a year, to the level of a professional. It was nice to play, but Light had never actually really appreciated the music. Even if it had been called a girly instrument, Light had relished in seeing the sheer emotions he could evoke from a person by simply moving his bow in the right way. It lies discarded on the top of his wardrobe shelf now, in a case, gathering dust. Light thinks that he abandoned it after he become able to evoke those same emotions from people with nary a smile and a few well-placed words.

17) Light's proudest moment was during that period when his memory of the Death Note hadn't existed and he and L had been talking, after a grueling day, hacking into Yotsuba. They'd been discussing intelligence and the validity of IQ tests. L had been a firm supporter of the idea of IQ tests until they revealed their own results. L's score had been 156. Light's score had been 174. L's argument had been firmly against IQ tests after that.

18) Those fifty days in solitary confinement have to be Light's worst memory. He doesn't think about it, of course; he has better things to be doing than reliving it, but he thinks to himself, some nights when he can't sleep, that if he'd stayed in that black dark room even an hour longer than he had, he would have gone completely insane.

19) Between Near and Mello, Light can't decide who he hates more. On the one hand, Near beat him on countless occasions, in crueler ways than L, and couldn't stop making sly remarks or subtle jokes that weren't funny to Light's team. But on the other hand, Mello kidnapped Sayu and rendered his bright sister to a vegetable. He's kind of glad that he'd never met either of them in person, because he was sure that if he had, he would have gotten shinigami eyes, just so that he could make sure they died. And that would have been defying his ideals as Kira.

20) Light actually realized that his reign as Kira wasn't the best thing for the world, sometime after he'd killed L. He'd been in his bathroom one night after a particularly violent dream involving shinigami, Sayu and L's eyes as he'd fallen from that chair. He'd realised that all of what he'd done had never been about justice, and only ever about furthering his childlike dreams to rule the world as a god. Then he'd gone back to sleep and forgotten it all by morning.

**L Lawliet**

1) L doesn't know how many names he's had over his life. He thinks that Watari might have an entire telephone book's worth of fake names for the both of them. Personally, he finds that quite amusing.

2) He doesn't really love cake as much as his eating habits would suggest. Or sweets in general really. But sugar makes the mind work faster and L needs to be quick in his line of work. Also, he often maps his case into the food that he's eating. It helps him think, by focusing his brain unto the topic at hand while letting the rest of him work mechanically.

3) L really dislikes children. Something about their hungry, greedy eyes and their fat faces. They're vulnerable, weak, in a way that L remembers all too well. He hates children, but most of all, he hates being seen as a child.

4) L also doesn't like the idea of successors. He never has and he never will. It gives the idea that he's mortal and likely to die sometime soon, which is ridiculous. The whole reason that L hid behind a laptop screen no matter what, was to avoid the chance of dying.

5) Still, L didn't mind his first successors, A and B. They'd been bright, interesting and unafraid of challenging him. Then, two weeks after he'd visited them for the fifth time, A committed suicide and B ran away. L stayed away from his successors after that.

6) A had once asked L, in a fit of curiousity, to walk without a hunch for a while. He'd lasted ten minutes before giving up. B had declared that L was officially a hunchback, much to all three's amusement. He'd never liked children, but he'd loved A and B like they were his own, despite only knowing them for a total of 24 accumulated hours.

7) It was why B's betrayal and turn to crime had struck L down to the core. The imitation of L and the gruesome deaths and clues had both sickened and intrigued the detective. Still, he was glad that he never had to get directly involved and that Naomi Misora had prevented B from following A to the death. He'd always be grateful for that. Losing one of his almost-children had been bad enough.

8) Yagami Soichiro had once asked him why he'd become a detective at the tender age of nine. L had frowned and told him 'Just because'. That wasn't the real reason, of course. To tell the truth, L's atoning for something that really wasn't his fault. Still he blames himself for the fact that he'd always known that his mother was a murderous criminal, and that he hadn't told the police until he was six.

9) L's always trusted his intuitive more than he's trusted logic, which he knows is odd in a detective. He knows himself and he knows when something is right. Usually, he reaches a conclusion and sees if the evidence fits. Usually, it does.

10) Watari is the only person that L has ever wholly trusted, other than his criminal mother. No one else deserved it.

11) Still, there are times when even Watari can get annoying, especially when he makes these hints about L retiring and getting a family. L would rather eat healthily for the rest of his life than ever get into the idea of romance. Romance has never appealed to him, though he'd experimented on the side as a teenager.

12) The closest that L ever got to romance was that awkward kiss with Misa Amane, who was really, quite pretty. Still, falling in love with a murder suspect was hardly appropriate, so L had pushed it out of his mind and focused on catching Kira.

13) L actually prefers working with criminals in comparison to working with the police. Sure, the first-timers always get shocked by his less-than-legal methods, but most of the old criminal faces, like Wedy and Aiber are a pleasure to work with. They are both efficient and unquestioning. Unlike the police. Still, police information and police consent is important to solving cases, so L deals with it.

14) L's been all over the world, but he'll always love England the most. Something about the rain and the old sense of security that seeps throughout the country; makes L feel happier there. He's been through some bad experiences there, but he's also had his best experiences there. He loves England.

15) He both hates and loves the fact that his birthday is on All Hallow's Eve. On one hand, he can pretend to be a teenager and get all of his thinking candy for free while going around the country. On the other hand, All Hallow's Eve has always been associated with the dead. L's worst nightmares come on Hallow's Eve and L never sleeps then, when he can help it.

16) Not that L actually sleeps on other occasions either. He has too much work to do anyway and his nightmares just like to lie in wait for him. They're always about his mother cackling angrily as she escapes from prison and the criminals he convicts with solid proof, walking free. When he wakes up, only one of those is true. It doesn't stop them being scary though.

17) L loves playing tennis. He's missed it, if he's honest. That liberating feeling of freedom from thought is something that L relishes, especially with an overactive brain. He knows that mostly chooses to focus on his martial arts skills when he has free time nowadays, but it hadn't stopped him from challenging Light, after seeing the Tennis Champion Awards. Still, he had been out of practice, and that was the only reason that L had lost to Light.

18) He's fairly aware that most of the world's police forces hate him, because he only gets involved on interesting cases with more than ten victims or if they offer one million dollars. Still, L knows that if he didn't specify these conditions, he'd want to try and take on all of the world's problems, no matter how small. And L was a genius. There were other detectives out there who could deal with those smaller cases. L dealt with what actually needed his help, and if that made him hated globally, he didn't mind.

19) L thinks that there's a fine line between a criminal and a detective. It's why Watari acts as his conscience and he never places himself in a position where his ego could turn him into a dictator. Any power beyond hacking was locked away and discarded. L would not become the bad guy.

20) It's why he hated the Death Note, the moment that he laid eyes upon it. The Death Note was a temptation, just waiting to be used. And L can't blame Light for using it, no matter how much he tries, because L knows that he would have done the same, if in a subtler way, had the notebook ever come near him. And he hates fate for dropping the notebook, because if Light had never touched the notebook, they could have been genuine friends one day.

**Misa Amane**

1) When Misa was in elementary school, she wanted to be a doctor and save lives. Some days, when she gets to slow down a little and sit back after a modeling session, she appreciates how ironic her life has become.

2) She started dressing in gothic fashion after the death of her parents. The black and the modesty had appealed to Misa as a fifteen year old. The modesty had eventually been ditched as she'd gotten older and more into the modelling industry. But she still kept a few of the modest outfits as a memory of old times.

3) She hates the fact that she's so short. Not only did it make kissing Light more difficult, but photographs, at the beginning of her modeling career, had not liked her because people preferred taller girls with longer legs. She's always wanted to be taller.

4) Misa had started speaking in the third tense for interviews, because her agent had suggested it. It had taken her three months to finally get used to it and by that point, she no longer thought that it was cute or funny. Just another mask that created bubbly, bright Misa-Misa for the cameras.

5) She really hates her job. Well, no; she loves the clothes and the posing and the attention that she gets, but she hates the people involved in the industry and the fierce competition to be the skinniest and the prettiest. She hates her directors and the fact that they're all lecherous perverts. She hates the other models and the fact that they immediately isolate out the girl who's the most popular and treat her with disdain. She…hates. It's why two weeks after the stalker incident, a bunch of models die in mysterious accidents and modelling directors just disappear from the public eyes.

6) She had been taking a music degree at a prestigious university in Osaka when the modelling career and portfolio that she'd sent off a year before, finally returned to her with an offer. She'd taken the offer immediately, ditching university without a second thought, but some days, Misa kind of wishes that she'd continued the degree and seen it through.

7) Misa's nightmares are usually filled with watching her parents die and the day that the stalker came for her. She wakes up crying every single time and has to hug her Death Note to her chest and talk quietly with her favourite teddy before she can go back to sleep. She feels that some days, it isn't the actual events she's afraid of, but that feeling of being helpless. Well, Misa's no longer helpless and will never be, not if she can help it.

8) Some days, when she feels particularly lonely, she'll get a VERY small slice of cake and sit in front of her TV, with her legs folded under her like the detective once did. She kind of misses Ryuuzaki a little, if only because that was the only time that Light seemed to actually listen to her. Also, Ryuuzaki had been a brilliant listener too. If he hadn't been L, Misa might have considered him her best friend.

9) She considers Sayu as the little sister that she never had. She envies the loving relationship that her Light and his little sister have, because it's a kind of relationship that Misa will never have with Hiraka, her own older sister.

10) She hasn't spoken with her older sister since she was sixteen. Hiraka had run away from Osaka, as quickly as she could, after their parents' deaths. Misa knows that Hiraka's a lawyer somewhere and that Hiraka's married with kids, but not much more than that. And anyway, she doesn't really care. She and Hiraka have never been close, being complete opposites in looks and personality throughout their entire life.

11) She's had many managers over her time and they always eventually leave, this Misa knows. Some because they found better, less demanding models to look after or Misa was too popular and they weren't able to cope with the pressure. Nothing was permanent, this Misa knew, but still, she kind of wished that Matsui/Matsuda could have stayed her manager for longer. He was nice, genuinely cared about her work and was really good at paperwork.

12) She kind of wishes Light was more like Mochi-Mochi. Not in the fact that Mogi never talked unless he could help it, but in the quiet willingness to put up with her whims. After all, Light would never have sat with her after she'd failed an audition and help her fold a thousand cranes for one wish. They'd only made it up to three hundred, but she'd appreciated the quiet bodyguard a lot more after that.

13) Misa has smiled in every single picture that was ever taken of her, except for a photoshoot in Harajuku one day. She'd been posing as an angel and she'd just been told that the criminal that had killed her parents had gone free. Not a single smile had been seen from Misa at that shoot, yet it's always been the most popular shoot in her portfolio. She can't imagine why. Smiling people are always more attractive, in Misa's eyes.

14) Misa's opinions on Takada aren't even worth expressing. The woman is dirt under her feet and stupid too. Light will realize it too, soon. Soon. She hopes.

15) Misa had loved the daytime when she was a child. The day had been when she could do anything and when she could see her friends and learn things. Nowadays, Misa has come to love the night more. She loves the stars and she loves the crisp feel of the air at night, when she's walking to the store to pay her bills. But what she loves the most about the night is the moon, her tsuki, glowing peacefully in the sky, quietly supporting the bright sun. Night is when Light finally comes home after work and when he sleeps next to her, perfection wrapped up in one beautiful body. Night is when she glows the most and when all of the best parties are. Misa loves the night.

16) Misa's dream, after marrying Light, is to visit Europe. She's heard beautiful things, and models are well received in Paris, Prague and Vienna. She wants to see the green grass and feel the cold. Misa's always liked snow and misses Osaka for that.

17) Misa's makeup ritual takes her one hour in the morning and it takes another twenty to choose her clothing appropriately. She treats these things rather like putting on battle armour. She doesn't feel completely without them. It's why she wakes up at 6.00am but sleeps usually near midnigh, spending another half an hour removing her makeup. She has dark bags that are appearing under her eyes, too similar to Ryuuzaki for her liking, but between makeup and caffeine, she survives.

18) Misa thinks that Rem might just be her best friend. Rem's always willing to listen to Misa's rants and explains to Misa every single rule in the Death Note, tirelessly. She also trades Misa for the shinigami eyes, which are the best gift that Misa's ever had. Misa thinks that if Misa had ever had proper friends, Rem would have been one.

19) If she's honest, she hates Ryuk. He scares her and never stops smiling. No one was always happy, and Ryuk's smile made it difficult to see what he really felt, which could have been anything from hatred to fear. Ryuk was a poor replacement for Rem, and she hates him more than L and Takada put together.

20) She wonders some days, whether she actually loves Light. Light's cold to her, is almost never home, seems to ignore her and orders her around like a slave. Kira, on the other hand…Kira is a god who avenged her parents. And Misa will follow Kira anywhere, even to death. It takes Misa a year to figure this out and when she does finally realise that it was Kira whom she loved and not Light, she runs blindly after him, hoping that he will still want her.

**AN: This was written after only finding 'Twenty Things' for Misa in the Death Note fandom. I really love the Death Note characters, and getting into their head is a lot of fun and helps in my other stories. More will be upcoming. Near, Mello and Matt are next, and then after that, I will probably take requests. All of this is a mixture of canon and my own headcanon. **

**Light and Misa were easy. L was not. End of. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Twenty Things – Part 2**

**Mihael Keehl**

1) Mello can't actually remember the last time that he's done anything for fun. Everything has always been about being the best and clawing his way to the top. But that's fine, because back when he'd had fun, he had been nothing, just another brat. Now he was almost at the top of the world and he didn't regret it for a second.

2) He killed his first person when he was five. The hazards of having a mafia boss for a father. Still, it wasn't like Mello had known what the gun did. All he'd thought it did was make noise, until one of his father's cronies had tumbled over and started bleeding all over the carpet. Later, when he'd realised just what he'd done, he felt sick to his stomach. Still, once you learn something, it never goes away, and Mello's aim with a gun is always accurate, even when he doesn't want it to be.

3) He wears leather gloves so he doesn't have to touch the people that he kills with the mafia. LA is a dirty, sticky place and the gloves give people a different idea of what he actually is, as the gloves hide the calluses of hard work. People think he's a spoiled brat who's never worked a day in his life, until he slits their throat. Of course, they also hide his skin, which tends to end up looking more and more like they are constantly bloodstained, even when they aren't. Mello has no intention of becoming Lady Macbeth, even if his mind seems to be pushing him in that direction.

4) He's not actually insane. He just acts like it, because it gives him a weakness and people tend to underestimate him once that occurs. He does have an issue with his temper, but it's never as bad as he acts. It's just, he made a decision a long time ago; that if Near was cold logic, Mello would be fiery emotion and beat him.

5) His best friend is Matt. They'd probably be something more if Mello actually had the time, but he's busy enough and for now, a friend is all he needs. Even if he has the weirdest dreams about his supposed best friend.

6) Contrary to popular belief, Mello does not actually spend that much time on his hair. Only ten minutes; washing, conditioning and straightening included. Most girls would kill for that sort of speed. Matt always teases him when he sees Mello's impromptu ponytail in the mornings, but Matt looks like an escaped prison convict in his stripes. He can hardly talk.

7) Mello loves chocolate. This, everybody knows, but what he'll never tell anyone, is that before Wammy's House, he'd never eaten any chocolate and when he first did, he'd cried for an hour.

8) Mello hates Near more than anything in the world. This is also pretty well known, but he actually appreciates Near for existing. If Near hadn't existed, Mello would have never gained that urge to be the best and he would never have reached his full potential. So Mello is grateful to Near, but it doesn't stop the overwhelming loathing that swells ups inside when he looks at Near.

9) He's really not quite sure why he and Near are always paired up when it comes to partner projects. Every single time, they get Ds or Fs on the grading scale and every single time, one or both of them get 'accidently' injured. He'd have thought that the teachers would have learned their lessons, but no! Every single chosen group project is always with Near.

10) He hates Kira because Kira killed L. But really, he also hates Kira for another burning reason. His parents had been in jail, serving time for being caught drug smuggling and for murder. Mello had wanted to talk to them when they'd gotten out, ask them why they'd betray his trust like that, why they'd turn to crime. But before he'd come of age, Kira had killed them. And now, Mello would never get a chance to speak with them again. He loathes Kira, more than he will ever hate Near.

11) His most treasured memory is meeting L in person. He's kind of embarrassed about how he must have sounded so awkward and wonder-struck, but apparently, L hadn't minded. He'd actually progressed to telling Mello three stories about his cases, stories that Mello would never forget, especially since the story about B seemed very pointedly aimed at him.

12) Having a good position in the rankings meant that you were popular in the rankings at Wammy's House, but Mello had never had many friends besides Matt and occasionally Jason. People tended to steer away from him in general, especially with his bad temper and tendency to be overly violent. He tells himself that it doesn't matter, because they'd just be an annoyance anyway, but when he sees Near flocked and surrounded by admirers and friends, he can't quell the rebellious feelings of jealousy in time.

13) Mello's always had a soft spot for animals. He thinks that animals will always be there for you and that they can't do much wrong. It was why he'd been secretly thrilled when most of the students got to choose a pet to look after. Most people had chosen a cat or a dog, but Mello had chosen a bird. He'd trained it to sing and to parrot his words back to him inbetween his studying sessions and had been devastated when he had been killed by another bird.

14) Mello doesn't actually like leather. It's sticky, uncomfortable and annoying. He'd only worn it in the Mafia because it made him stand out and well, looking like a prostitute yet acting like he was a CEO, always threw people off. It was rather funny also, watching the rather homophobic Mafia entertain thoughts they probably wouldn't have otherwise. They remained thoughts though; Mello might have looked like a prostitute, but he was never going to act like one.

15) He thinks that Mello and Mihael are too different people, really. Mihael is soft and quiet and happy, while Mello is brash, angry and too smart for his own good. He prefers being Mello, but he indulges in quiet moments, of being Mihael. He knows that Mr. Wammy had also suffered this problem, after he'd overheard Mr. Wammy and the Head Matron discuss it. He's not schizophrenic, but he definitely has two sides to him.

16) Its weird, but when he burned his face, he'd never once cared about his angelic appearance vanishing. He'd been more concerned about catching Kira again, and disguises and keeping the scar cold. Matt had been rather surprised by how coolly Mello had taken it, but Mello had merely felt that his inner personality finally reflected his outer appearance. It was a sad thing, but Mello had lost any beauty to his personality the moment that he'd killed his second person.

17) He really dislikes Misa Amane. He can't imagine why L thought she was the second Kira, because she doesn't seem to have any hidden depths beyond the model's exterior. He hates surveying her, but it's the only he can get close to Kira, without the money and the power of the Mafia. It had taken him four years of hard work, 50 people killed by his own hand and countless more bribed and /or threatened to get where he'd gotten. All ruined because he was buying too much chocolate. Sometimes, he hated himself.

18) Mello used to be a devout Catholic up until he left the orphanage. He'd prayed every day and knew the bible and the hymns off by heart. But, the moment he'd left and enveloped himself in the world of crime, his rosary became a mere accessory. Mello knew that the real God did not forgive murders, liars and thieves. He'd broken the most important of the rules laid out by God by the age of fifteen. There was no place for him in Heaven and there never would be. He was no hypocrite.

19) Mello never writes in the Death Note. Not even once. he knows that if he writes in it even once, the temptation to continue would increase, and the next thing you'd know, he'd take over Kira's place as that world leader. The risk is too much for Mello to become the owner of the notebook, and for once, Mello is glad that he doesn't know Near's real name, because the temptation if he had, would have been far too much.

20) Mello wonders sometimes, what happens after he becomes the best. After he beats L, Near and Kira all together. He thinks maybe about travelling the world, taking over L's position. Maybe he'll make Matt be his Watari. He isn't sure, really. He's…never once thought about it seriously. Mello wonders what happens after he wins. And he finds, that with all of his genius brain, he still can't imagine winning.

**Mail Jeevas**

1) Matt actually hates his real name with a vengeance and doesn't tell anyone who doesn't already know. Not even Mello. By the time that his real name actually matters in the real world, he's the only person alive who knows that name, and that's how it will stay, to even his death.

2) He's the best at coding at Wammy's House, but he can't figure out why. He thinks, perhaps, it's because he deals better with computers than he will ever be able to deal with people.

3) But, for some reason, he's the most popular kid in Wammy's House. It's weird, since he has pretty much no social skills, except for how to shut up and listen, but it seems that that trait is what is required here are Wammy's House. Mello's too scary and Near's too cold for people to be friends with them properly. That makes Matt laugh sometimes, when he's alone.

4) His friendship with Mello hadn't exactly been the smoothest one. If he recalls properly, they'd first met by Matt saying that he didn't talk to lower life-forms. Matt had been forced to eat his words after one week, when Mello had beat him for first and Mello had smugly said, 'I don't mind speaking to lower lifeforms'. Yeah. It had taken them six months to smooth out the frequent arguments they had, before they finally learnt to cope with each other.

5) He's fairly certain that the reason that Mello and Near are always placed together in group projects, is because they think that what happened between he and Mello, will happen again to Near and Mello. Fat chance.

6) He secretly thinks that Mello's morning routine is the funniest thing he's ever seen, especially when it involves Mello painting his nails, running around looking for the straighteners with half of his clothing haphazardly on him. He usually pretends to be asleep so he doesn't get roped into searching, but he can still watch the best entertainment around.

7) Sometimes, he thinks that the only reason that he puts up with Mello's quirks and weirdness, is because life would be boring without him. Take the two years that Mello had sicced him upon Near, as a spy for himself. That had been perhaps the dullest experience of his life, especially since Near wasn't prone to talking.

8) He really loves having an eidetic memory, because he can make it look like he's getting third place without even trying. He can just pretend that he knew all of these facts off the top of his head. The only two people who know that he secretly studies and only pretends to be asleep in class is probably Linda and Near. Linda, because she caught him once, when she was buying information from him, and Near because Near was good at reading body language.

9) He's privy to all of the secrets of the House, either by hacking the camera feeds, or by people just telling him. It's why he's the best person to come to for information. He usually sells it to them if they give him chocolate. Keeping Mello docile is the most difficult chore of Matt's life.

10) He loves smoking more than he can describe. It's that feeling of breaking the rules and that feeling of his mind speeding up that he really loves. Drugs were never allowed at Wammy's House, not even coffee, so Matt loves to indulge in these, in the years after Wammy's House. He's no chain smoker, but he definitely enjoys it.

11) He might just hate L. Yes, yes, he was one of those students who were completely disillusioned by the Q&A session they'd had. He doesn't know why Mello's hero-worship had gone up a notch after the Q&A session, but it had. Matt had hated L after that. He kind of thinks that he might have hated L before, for some other reason, but he firmly says that he started hating L at that moment.

12) Matt's only ever had two pairs of goggles in his whole life. One that was blue and black, which was given to him by Wedy, the most awesome lady in the world. He thinks that he had a bit of a hero-crush on her. The other was orange and brown, and that had been given to him by Mello while they were working on the Kira case. He'd been pretty lenient about wearing his goggles at Wammy's house, but he never took off the orange ones. He tells himself it's because his face is dangerous nowadays, with Kira on the loose, but really, it's for another reason entirely.

13) He's very good at gambling. He wins nearly every game at every casino when he was in Vegas with Mello. Even without having to count the cards. Mello passes it off as luck or cheating, but Matt thinks it's because he's used to it. His whole life is one calculated gamble, after all.

14) He's not quite sure why people think that Mello swears a lot. Maybe it's because Mello has a temper, but Matt finds that, as he reviews his conversations with Mello; Mello never swore. Not once. He says the strangest things like 'Fiddlesticks'(since when did Mello play an instrument?), 'Darn it' (was he asking Matt to mend his clothes or something?), and 'Bother' (there weren't words).

15) Actually, Near's the real pottymouth, and Matt's not exactly innocent himself. Probably because both of them came from an abusive environment and parents aren't likely to censor themselves. But, your dialect and your accent are shaped by your environment. Matt's Brooklyn slums accent and dialect is slowly being eroded away to be replaced by Queen's English. But Near's speech quirks remain the same as the time he first arrived at the orphanage. Matt thinks that this is because Matt's evolving and changing, but that Near's still stuck in that place mentally.

16) Mello often talks about wanting to see his parents again and ask them why they did it, but Matt has no such desire. His mother was a bitch who hated his guts, and his father was a layabout murderer. They're both in prison, and he's extremely grateful for that. He still has scars from when she hit him too hard, during the periods were she wasn't drunk. He's happier here at Wammy's even if they think that he should eat more than is actually healthy for someone.

17) He actually doesn't like video games that much. They're okay, but they're only a way of relieving boredom and not something to get addicted to. Matt finds that he only ever plays video games when Mello isn't around or when Mello is studying. Otherwise, his boredom is quenched. Mello certainly has enough interesting things happen around him, for Matt to not get bored easily.

18) His pride and joy, as far as creations go, is a neon-yellow, large machine. It's a bulky thing and carrying it around is an eyesore, but it unlocks every single digital door imaginable. As long as the person who uses it, codes for his absence in the camera feed beforehand, they could get away with anything. It's how he and Mello usually manage to cause chaos, and Matt never fails to laugh at everyone's faces when they see the machine.

19) He thinks some days, that if he could actually get away with hiding in some underground cavern for eternity, he would. He really does hate the sunlight, even if he knows exactly why it is useful. It's why he wears his goggles and covers up his skin all the time. He can't really do anything about his face though, unless he wants to permanently look like he's about to rob a bank. Mello already makes enough snarky comments about him looking like a prison escapee (which is rich coming from a Mafia Boss), he doesn't need to add to it by wearing a balaclava. Still, as he stares at the sunburn and the new freckles that now decorate the bridge of his nose, he would happily brave the comments. He hates sunburn.

20) Matt wonders some days, what life might have been like if he'd refused to follow Mello. If he hadn't just ran after Mello straight into danger, if he'd declined Mello's friendship. He tries, but he can't imagine it. He'd follow Mello all the way to Hell, if Mello asked him to.

**Nate River**

1) He hates being called an albino. It's the correct scientific term to describe him, of course, but it implies persecution. Near knows about what happens in Africa with the witch doctors and body parts, and he's not too pleased about that connotation. Of course, there's also the evil connotation, which Near hates even more. It's fucking disgusting that this kind of prejudice exists in the modern world, but Near knows that this world isn't perfect.

2) He doesn't actually dislike Mello, for all the hatred that Mello seems to bear for him. Near actually quite appreciates the blonde boy, because he's the only one on the same intellectual level as Near. Maybe Matt would be able to match it, but for some reason, the other boy prefers to pretend that he's not interested.

3) An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. A line from Mahatma Gandhi. Usually, Near loves quotes from Gandhi, one of the most inspirational figures in the world, but Near disagrees with this one. If someone was going to hurt him, Near would hurt back. Simple. It's the reason why Mello occasionally ends up injured after they are paired up in group projects. They both take self-defence, after all.

4) He'd not actually been interested in becoming a detective until Kira came unto the scene. Kira broke every moral rule that Near had ever stood for, and that requires punishment. By the time he defeats Kira, he's too entangled with the world of crime, and he knows that it is his duty to stay working as L, even if the job is bitter-sweet and unfeeling.

5) He doesn't like L that much. Near finds, that a man who only does detective work because it's more interesting than being a criminal, is a cold excuse for a person. Near knew, that the moment detective work became uninteresting, L would probably throw it away and hand it along to his successors. And that, to Near, for whom duty came first; was unforgivable.

6) He didn't actually find toys all that interesting. They were just a way to be able to visualize the case that he was working on. Besides, it was probably a way of trying to make up for his childhood, he knew. He'd never had any toys as a child, only his own imagination.

7) He didn't like the term genius. He felt that it set them apart from the world, gave them yet another isolating barrier from normal people. It also made everyone feel afraid or place the 'genii' up on a pedestal. Near thought that it was stupid; genii weren't exactly unnatural. It was simple population variation, and this time, it was in intelligence. Obviously, teaching them a different curriculum, so that they wouldn't get bored, was a good idea, but the problem was, he didn't think some of the children remembered what it was like to be 'normal' which was a bad thing, because nobody could stay at the House forever.

8) Near wasn't a mute, thank you very much. He just preferred to be quiet. There were enough stupid people who talked on and on about nothing of consequence. Near preferred his words to be meaningful and to actually be necessary to the conversation. It's probably why he doesn't have many friends, but Near's fine with that.

9) …Yes he does actually have friends. He's actually got quite a few of them. More than Mello, in any case. He even has a girlfriend, if his long-distance relationship with Linda can be called that. They probably weren't girlfriend and boyfriend in the traditional sense, but she understands him and he understands her. It's more than his other friends did, so Near counts her as that other significant person.

10) It's probably because of Linda that Near has such a proclivity to Art. Usually, he prefers Maths and Science with the cold, rational logic, but Linda's creativity and his own, work very well together, and it is the reasons his many towers and structures all look like they'd belong in a modern art museum.

11) Near thinks that if he had to dress like a normal person, he'd probably collapse. In Wammy's House, kids were allowed to wear whatever they wanted, as long as it was decent. Near had tried some other types of clothing, but they'd all been so uncomfortable, that he eventually settled down in pyjamas for the rest of his life.

12) The caretakers of Wammy's House seemed to think that he had an eating problem. Near honestly felt that they were being overprotective. He wasn't anorexic or bulimic; he felt no need to starve himself or eat food and then throw it all up. Near just never felt hungry. And anyway, it made sense that he didn't eat as much as the other students, because he simply didn't do as much as the other students.

13) Near felt very grateful for the fact that he had an eidetic memory. It meant that he didn't have to spend his every minute studying, but merely pay attention in classes. But for the days that he couldn't do that, Near had a mini tape-recorder. The only person who knew that it existed was Matt and he wasn't spilling.

14) He appreciated the members of the SPK, very much. They did all of the hard work and the meeting with other people on Near's behalf and they were willing to follow orders, even if it was from someone younger than all of them.

15) He was grateful to them, really, he was. He just wished that they didn't feel the urge to treat him like a child. Just because he still managed to end up looking like a child, didn't mean he was one. Eighteen years old. _Eighteen_ years old, not eight! But however many times he told them that, the boxes of vitamins, the random milk bottles and the pointed remarks about his eating habits never stopped coming his way. It drove Near up the bend.

16) In particular, he wishes that Lidner would stop treating him like a child. It's weird enough that she practically looks like a female version of Mello, but when she treats him with kindness and concern, it's particularly disorienting, especially after he realized that Mello had been collaborating with Lidner.

17) He thinks that's why he likes Rester the most. He's quiet, reliable and treats Near like his employer rather than like a child. It's refreshing, even if even Rester is prone to a few patronizing moments that Near can only girt his teeth at. But, Near owes him that much at least. After all, Rester had to put up with flying to and from Japan because Near had never been on a plane all alone before.

18) …It's a little quirk of his, but he twists his hair when he's nervous. It's kind of irritating, but it calms him down, because it stimulates his brain a little bit, so he also does it when he's thinking. Near dislikes having a personality quirk like that, because it makes his feelings more oblique, but try as he might, he can't get rid of it.

19) Near really disliked Roger. It was one of many things that he had in common with Mello, but people disliking Roger was something that was shared by every Wammy's House student. He was not only crabby around everyone, but he was also the main enforcer of punishments. And Near wasn't as much of a rule-breaker as Mello or Matt, but even he stayed up past curfew and got in trouble for injuring Mello during their fights. When this happened. Near hates going to Roger and listening to his patronizing voice and attempts at empathy. Near had been so irritated when he'd had Roger as Watari, that he'd switched to Rester as soon as he could.

20) He's not ashamed. When he heard of the deaths of Matt and Mello, he cried. Not in front of the SPK, of course, but back inside his room. Two people who he'd grown up with, knew practically everything about, were gone, because of Kira. Near thinks that he hadn't really been serious until then. Until their deaths. They'd been a sharp blow to him, and had jerked him to realise that Kira was slyer than they'd thought and that Kira'd been using on Near's confidence on the second L being stupid. He was grateful, but he blames himself and always will.

**AN: Yay, Part 2 is finished! Mello and Misa have always been the easiest to write, and so has Light. Matt was also surprisingly easy, considering I don't really like his character that much. But despite Near tying for the spot of my favourite character, it was really difficult to write him in this story. Maybe because he was reluctant to spill his secrets. Come on Near, sharing is caring!**

**Near: But, I don't care… *twirls hair***

**Ttch. Anyway, Part 3 will be coming up soon with Matsuda, Mikami and Takada. I will have a lot of fun writing Takada and Mikami. They're perhaps the most hated characters in the series. I want to see if I can make them likeable. **


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